In March of 2019 MantisEdu returned to the Microsoft headquarters in Atlanta to participate their yearly event Blacks in Microsoft. As a returning guess MantisEdu felt the need to elevate their presentation and focused on Smart Farming.

Smart Farming is the using of sensor technology to assist with daily farming applications. MantisEdu, a leader in sensor technology, introduced this concept to a group of 60 students. Lead by their CEO Laron Walker the Mantis team presented the group with information on the type of sensors used in smart farming and the advantages of incorporating sensors into the farming process.

Given a Microsoft Surface and a MantisEdu Climate sensor to complete an exercise, students were divided and given various heating sources to simulate various climate changes. After creating the climate variations and collecting the data, the students created spreadsheets that reflected what they had discovered. Through the execution of this exercise students were exposed to methods and tools many individuals with STEM backgrounds use to enhance our daily lives. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate how temperature variations affect the rate at which produce grows, eventually affecting the pricing of the produce based on the demand for the product.

The introduction of smart farming registered well with the students, the topic is engaging and allows for more visual interactions rather than the students just listening to a speaker. The session concluded with the students expressing the things they learned and asking questions in regard to how they could obtain the sensors and continue looking into other aspects of smart farming like hydroponics.

MantisEdu prides itself on being innovative and there is nothing more innovating than inspiring a generation of great minds.